After being on vacation for two weeks today is my first day back in the office. While I was on vacation I imagined how I might dread coming back to cold New York and my office instead of being in relatively warm Florida doing alot of nothing. But this morning, I woke up with a resolve in my spirit that today had to be different than previous days at work in 2009 and previous years. It’s Monday, the first day in the work week for many, and the first Monday in 2010. For me, it means that today has to be different because I have this obvious opportunity to do things differently and start with a clean slate. Before I left my house this morning, I updated my status on Facebook to the following,

“Nicole Symmonds prays that everyone returning to work/school for the first time in 2010 would leave behind attitudes and dispositions they brought with them to work/school in 2009. It’s a new year and if you want something different, you not only have to do things differently, but be different. Remember, the purpose of work in our lives is to show God at work in our lives.”

And so, I want to share the same prayer with everyone out there who has returned back to their desks. The sacred desks and the secular, the school and the corporation, the cubicle and the corner office. Today we have a perfect opportunity to make a lasting change in our work and school lives. What we do today can put us on track to set good habits for the work/school year ahead of us. So join me in prayer for this, the first day of the work/school week in 2010, and please add your prayer.

Heavenly Father,

I thank you first and foremost for bringing me into this new year. You didn’t have to do it, but you did and I want to honor your commitment to me by being comitted to you in all I do. A great part of that commitment is honoring you in the work that I do. I spend the majority of my waking hours behind a desk and I don’t want to take for granted that the only reason I am behind this desk is because you woke me up this morning, brought me here safely and blessed me with this job. Please help me to honor you on this day and everyday going forward with the work that I do. In everything I do at work from this day forward, let me honor you. Help me to do my work without complaining, murmurring or arguing. May I not carry the grievances, attitudes and dispostions of last year into this year. And may I free myself of expectations and instead surrender myself to your will. May we all submit ourselves to your will for us in our lives at work and in school.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen